• Question: Why are you more tired in the morning than at night?

    Asked by cdtg to Andrew, Emma, Marianne on 15 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      Hullo cdtg, i don’t think that I am more tired in the morning than at night but you are right that it is a common problem. See this site for some info: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/mentalhealthproblems/sleepproblems/tiredness.aspx.

      Also see this article:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7932950.stm

      I guess we don’t know why young people and especially teenagers have this problem. It seems likely to be to do with growth and hormones (Wow what a cop-out. i hate that explanation).

      A more interesting approach might be to allow a group of folk to sleep later, start work and school later but work later and see whether that improves matters.

    • Photo: Marianne Baker

      Marianne Baker answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      Hey cdtg,

      Me personally, or people in general??

      I think it varies between individuals – some people are more ‘night owls’ than others.

      I suppose we’re used to being comfortable in bed and relaxed when we wake up in the morning, and often you don’t want to drag yourself away from that! Whereas at night you’ve been awake and active for a long time so unless you’re really tired you can just keep going.

      That would be my analysis, not sure how accurate it is!

    • Photo: Andrew Maynard

      Andrew Maynard answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Hi cdtg,

      In my case, because I’m foolish enough to wear out my body by answering questions on I’m A Scientist rather than going to bed at a decent hour 🙂

      I’m not sure there’s a general answer to this, but then I’m not a medical person. I do know that there are some medical conditions though that prevent your body recuperating as much as it should as you sleep – not that you should let that worry you!

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